GUNS AND AMMUNITION 



267 



lin & Rand bull's-eye powder, and Tatham's 

 No. 85 buckshot. 



Driving the No. 85 shot through the re- 

 loader with the long plunger cuts off a light 

 ring of lead and swedges into a regular 

 shape about 70 per cent, of the more or less 

 irregular buckshot. It also leaves a band 

 around the ball exceeding y& of an inch in 

 breadth. This band takes the rifling of the 

 barrel, and with a little tallow for lubricant 

 I get better results than from the carefully 

 moulded round bullets I formerly made. The 

 cost of this load is less than 35 cents per 

 100. Lee J. Mills, Brooklyn, N. Y. 



loaded with 3 drams smokeless powder and 

 1% ounce No. 5 chilled shot. He will have 

 an excellent combination and one hard to 

 beat, and if he holds right he will have few 

 crippled ducks. 



F. Allan Kinsey, Essex, Iowa. 



THE MARLIN REPEATING GUN FOR HIM. 



Editor Recreation: 



I see in your January issue a gentleman 

 who signed himself "Black Duck" wants to 

 know the "best type of gun for duck shoot- 

 ing, with details as to gauge, length of bar-' 

 rels, weight, and loads." 



Of course, every hunter has his own pecu- 

 liar ideas about guns, loads, etc. But my 

 own experience is as follows : For a good 

 many years I used the old 12-gauge muzzle 

 loader, until the repeaters and breech loaders 

 came into use, when I got me a 16-gauge 

 Winchester with 28-in. barrel. It was a good 

 little gun, but it had its faults, and it did 

 not suit me. I sold it and next got an Ithaca 

 double-barrel hammerless, 30-in. barrels, 

 weight 7% pounds. 



Then for almost four years I thought I 

 was satisfied. It was as good a shooting gun 

 as I ever saw, and just here let me say that 

 I think the Ithaca people put out the best 

 gun for the amount of money expended of 

 any double-barrel gun on the market to-day. 

 But the longer I used my Ithaca double-bar- 

 rel the more dissatisfied I got with it; per- 

 haps the fault was mine, but this was my ob- 

 jection: Lots c f times when hunting ducks I 

 would make a kill with my first barrel and 

 cripple with the second, and then nine times 

 out of ten the crippled duck would get away. 

 So I wanted a gun to make sure of my sec- 

 ond bird. So I traded my Ithaca for a new 

 Marlin repeater 12-gauge, 30-in. barrel, 

 weight J%. pounds. I have used this gun for 

 some time now, and I think it the most per- 

 fect gun I ever saw. It shoots just as well 

 as the Ithaca did and never fails to extract a 

 shell and reload. I makes no difference how 

 fast one may fire, and the balance is just as 

 good as any double-barrel gun made. 



Some people like the Winchester repeater 

 the best, but as I have owned both, I prefer 

 the Marlin. The shooting qualities of the 

 two guns I think are equal, gauge for gauge, 

 as the barrels are the same. So I would ad- 

 vise my friend if he wants the best all-round 

 duck gun on the market to-day to get a Mar- 

 lin 12 gauge, 30 inch barrels, 7% pounds, and 

 use the Winchester Leader or Repeater shell 



WOULD LIKE A "HAINES" MODEL. 



Editor Recreation : 



I have been reading Recreation lately, and 

 am interested in everything in it, from the 

 front page to the back. I should like to be 

 one of its writers, and the only way I know 

 of is to "butt" right in, and ask you to do the 

 rest. As a starter I should like to discuss the 

 proposed single-action revolver for the .38 

 special cartridge. 



I have enjoyed the "thinks" of my brother 

 hunters on the revolver, as I am a fiend on 

 the aforesaid arm. I have handled guns and 

 revolvers ever since I got out of my cradle, 

 and always expect to until I go back again 

 in my second childhood. 



I have used many kinds and makes of re- 

 volvers, from the old muzzle loader up to the 

 new 1905 model Smith & Wesson .38 special 

 military revolver, one of which I own, and 

 from my experience and point of view it is 

 the very elite of revolvers. I have shot ' it 

 many times in all kinds of weather and at all 

 kinds of things and have never found it 

 "asleep" (so to speak). It is the finest all- 

 around arm for either target or hunting large 

 or small game. I can shoot with it just as 

 well as with a rifle, and for game up to deer 

 I much prefer it. I like a single-action re- 

 volver for common, every-day hunting and 

 target shooting, for the trigger pull is much 

 softer and one is not so apt to pull the sights 

 off the game. But there comes a time in most 

 big game hunters' lives when they have to 

 "pump them in" again at short range, or 

 never see home again. Then, I say, the 

 double-action is "just the thing." Neverthe- 

 less, I want my name added to the petition 

 which is being sent by all the men that prom- 

 ise to buy one or more when they are brought 

 out. I hope I am not too late to have my 

 name added. 



I agree, as the rest do, .to having it made 

 on the same frame as the old .45 Colt, weigh- 

 ing 32 ounces, 6^2 inch barrel, the cyl- 

 inders centering in three places, as it does in 

 the military model, and made of the best 

 smokeless steel, so that either smokeless pow- 

 der or black could be used. I have no fault 

 to find with the Colt, for it has come through 

 most stringent tests and has never been found 

 wanting in the least. But taking the Colt 

 new army, or any of them, and comparing 

 them with the new S. & W. military model, 

 point for point, I think (and many with 

 me) that the S. & W. is the nearest to per- 

 fection of any arm now made. 



I am sure that whatever firm makes the 

 new revolver, they will be more than repaid 



